During my year-long experimental project working with African textiles I received from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art Library, I had the opportunity to speak with scholars from the Congo, Benin, and Nigeria. As an artist, it was an amazing experience to see how art historians view the artistic process and final art piece. This book was inspired by those conversations and made with the textiles I received.
Scream, A defense mechanism
hand painted repurposed men's African garments, fabric manipulation, printmaking, 16.5" x 25.5" x 2", 2017
hand painted repurposed African men's garment, printmaking, silkscreened text, 16.5" x 25.5" x 2", 2017
 Primary Lessons
New primary school curriculum
lots of biology lessons.
Last week we dissected spinal columns
twenty-four true, nine false vertebrae.
Cicadas, he said, so many of them come out
at the same time that all the birds eating 
them get full and leave the rest alone.
"Predator satiation," my teacher explained.
A defense mechanism.
Doesn't work with all predators, I guess.
Today they opened my teacher's throat
for all to see. The whole school was
commanded to come out at the same time.
All the guns shooting us never stopped.
Play dead.
- Suzanne Coley
Bones: Today they opened my teacher's throat . . . 
detail page from Primary Lessons: Vintage velvet, cotton, mono print
School: The whole school was commanded to come out at the same time.
page from Primary Lessons, 16.5" x 25.5" x 2", 2017

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